Matt woke up the next morning as the sun was rising. When he noticed the sun, he was a bit surprised. He usually slept in late because he always felt tired. But he wasn't feeling bad at all, he actually felt very refreshed.
'Wow, maybe it's all the stat increases? I guess I am overall, much healthier now.'
He looked over at the alarm, and that only surprised him further.
[7:14 AM]
'Huh, I guess I still have an hour before work.'
He got up from the bed and headed to his kitchen. He looked around for some breakfast, but could only find an almost empty box of chocolate-flavored cereal. But it was enough to feed him for now.
As he sat and ate his dry cereal, his thoughts started to wander. He began to recall all the events that happened the day before.
'Now that the adrenaline's worn off, I'm starting to realize how dangerous of a fight that was. I really could've died.'
He put another spoonful of dry cereal in his mouth before continuing his thoughts.
'I wonder how much HP a bullet would make me lose? If that punch drained 3 HP, then a bullet would probably drain all of it. Maybe? Speaking of which.'
As he said that, he looked down and felt that his stomach didn't hurt at all anymore. He opened his stats and noticed his HP was already back at 20.
'That regen's super helpful. It's good that I don't have to worry too much about getting a bit beat up. But I don't want to take any chances. I don't want to think about what would happen if my HP reached 0…"
He finally finished his cereal and stood up. He walked to his living room area and stared out the window as he thought about his new skill.
'I'm a bit nervous. I have one skill, and it's already pretty superhuman. If the system really releases, It's gonna be bad.'
He looked down at the people walking by and it was starting to sink in that every single one of them would have a system soon.
'I have to do something. I don't know how long I'm going to have this advantage, but I need to take it. Sure, my life is great now! But I'm still too weak.'
'I need to be strong enough to protect my family. I feel like I haven't really changed these past few days. I'm not gonna wait until it's too late. I'm done doing that.'
He opened his quests screen with a new sense of determination. He spoke aloud this time as he finished his train of thought.
"I'm going to be so strong, that nothing could ever hurt my friends and family."
He was determined more than ever. It was like someone poured gasoline on the fire that was lit when he first got his system. He stared at one of the quests in his system.
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[Quest In-Progress]
Do Pushups [36/100] [Reward: +2 Strength, +20xp]
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He also looked at his current strength, which was 12.
'I just added another point yesterday. I also gained a point doing deliveries. Not to mention, I got 3 from leveling up the day before. So the last time I did this quest, I was at 7 strength. Wow.'
He laughed to himself. He had been so busy had had basically forgotten about it. But he was like a different person now. With no hesitation, he got onto the floor and started doing pushups.
He got to 10 without any effort. He kept going without feeling any sort of fatigue. The number on the quest just kept ticking up until he heard a ding.
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[Quest Complete]
Do Pushups [100/100]
+2 Strength, +20xp [XP 98/120]
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In an instant, his body felt like it was on fire. It felt like all his muscles were tightening and reforming. He felt incredible and light. He was a bit surprised because his muscles only got a tiny bit larger and it mainly felt like his muscles were more compressed now.
'Oh good. I guess after a specific point, it increases my strength without adding muscle size. I was hoping I wasn't going to look like one of those bodybuilders who look like a pile of boulders.'
He swung his arm a bit, hoping to somehow tell how strong he was. While it felt fairly effortless to move his body, he couldn't really tell the extent of his strength.
'I should probably find something to punch later. It would be good to know the extent of my abilities in case I get in another fight.'
As he was thinking that, the system started sending message after message.
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[System has assessed your competency, quest difficulty increasing.]
[Attempting to activate Daily Quests]
[Error: Activation failed | Reason: System still in Beta]
*[New Quests Available]*
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'Cool, I got some new quests. I guess I have to finish all of them to get a new batch.'
He opened up the quest menu to see what the new quests were.
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||General||
Pay the rent [$223/800] [Reward: +Mystery Reward, +30xp]
(NEW) Reach LVL 5 [2/5] [Reward: +10 Unassigned Stat Points, +1 Artifact]
(NEW) Make a stranger believe you are a celebrity [Reward: Stat Unlock, +30xp]
(NEW) Climb to the top of a tree [Reward: +1 STR, +1 AGI, +20xp]
(NEW) Compete in an event and win [Reward: +1 All Stats, +75xp]
(NEW) Intense Training: Do 100 Pushups, 100 Sit Ups, 100 Squats, and a 10 Mile Run [Timed] [0/100, 0/100, 0/100, 0/10] [Reward: +3 STR, +3 AGI, +50xp]
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As he scanned the menu, his eyes just went wider and wider.
'Those rewards are insane! But also, what's with these quests!? Climb a tree? Convince someone I'm popular?'
He felt like the system was trolling him.
'Some of these quests are pretty stupid. But the rewards are really good.'
He noticed in particular that the quest to reach LVL 5 gave him a ton of stat points.
'Makes sense. By the time I'm level 5, I'll probably have a ton of points already. But what's with the other reward?'
He focused back on the quest and noticed the Artifact reward.
'Artifact? Maybe an item?'
He finished looking at the other quests as well.
'Compete in an event and win? Does just any competition work? Also, one point to all stats is nice. It's basically a level up.'
He decided he would look at them in more detail later. For now, he had to go to work.